A delay in Kurdish separatist's case may jeopardise chances of joining the EU, but a hearing will be unpopular
Opinion polls in Turkey regularly show that 70 per cent of Turks want to join the European Union but only 30 per cent think Europe will let them in.
Following the ruling by the European Court of Human Rights last Thursday that Turkey's 1999 trial of Kurdish separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan was neither independent nor impartial, it is a contradiction that risks becoming untenable.
With a constitution that acknowledges the supremacy of international law, Turkey has little option but to call a retrial. Foot-dragging could jeopardise the government's chances of getting an accession date from Brussels in October.
Explaining that to the Turkish people, though, will be far from easy.
Ocalan was the country's No 1 enemy well before he was captured in 1999 and condemned to death for treason. Under pressure from the EU, the sentence was commuted to life imprisonment three years later.